PMC church planting workers

Church Planting

Goal

To help a PFWBC pastor to do church planting in another village or town. (It is hard to be precise here because so much depends on the individual pastor, and the locality, and the type of situation there).

Volunteers' Work

If you are willing and ready to do some real evangelism and church planting, you would go along with a specific pastor to the new area, chosen for church planting, and visit the residents, speaking to them about the gospel of Christ, and seeking to win souls to repentance and faith in Him. Tract distribution is important in Tanzania. Find a location for some meetings (it might need to be in the open air or on a street), and try to draw a crowd for music and preaching.

When a number of strong salvation decisions have been made, you would help the pastor draw those individuals together, and introduce them to the concept of a church to help them grow in knowledge and faith in Christ, and the Bible. You would work with the pastor to find a place for the new church plant to meet regularly, and try to set up regular meetings for preaching and teaching. Helping with baptisms may also be in order. As may be conducting impromptu DVBS or sports/games clinics with kids and young people. Such activities will draw people and help to knit their hearts together as one new church plant.

Type of Volunteers Needed

Volunteers are desired who understand the gospel well and have a passion for evangelism and church planting. Since English is an official language of Tanzania it should be possible to get along without knowing Swahili, however, knowing Swahili would certainly be an asset too. The pastor leading that church planting team may be busy translating quite often.a

If some of the volunteers are able to lead with singing and music, and have musical instruments that travel with them, or can handle story-telling to children, that would be very good.

Various false cults have found this country a place to flourish, so it would seem that having a good grasp of the Bible and knowing how to answer those whose beliefs are all mixed up would be very helpful too.

Number of Volunteers

Ideally, we would like at least 2 - 3 volunteers with each pastor-led church planting team.

A larger team might accomplish even more. Especially if some would focus on building relationships with the kids, others with the youths, and still others focus on the adults. The PMC has about 12-13 pastors doing pioneer work in the smaller towns and villages, so if a larger group wants to come, and is willing to break up into smaller groups of 2-3 to go with the different pastors, a strong wave of new churches could be planted or birthed!

Time Factor

Two to three months would be best for getting a church plant well-established. Pastor Gervase feels that it can be done in less if necessary. We urge the volunteers to try to zero in on some local Christians and disciple or train them while they are there, that would make it easier on the pastor.

The Costs

Remember that this church, and the people of this church are extremely poor. While their hearts are filled with glad generosity, you will need to be prepared to cover all costs for your travel and accommodations. If a number of volunteers come at once they may not be able to provide food, and you should be prepared to help out with the purchase of food-stuffs too.

Preparation Work for PFWBC to Do

The pastors who are to lead Church planting teams will need to make their plans as to where they would go, transportation to that area, and do their best to find accommodation and meals for the team members. Pastor Gervase may give them some training or counsel on how to host and work with a team, especially if they are used to working alone. All this means that some advance notice of your coming is wise.

If at all possible, your host church, PFWBC, will try to organize some hospitality days, and to show you, the guest volunteers, around to interesting things to see or do in that area of Tanzania.